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En Memoriam. FUNERAL ORATION BY THE Rev. S. Morais, MAY 25, 1874. Sivan 9th, 5634. The hair is dishevelled; the countenance bedewed with tears; the shrieks uttered pierce all hearts. Who is she coming nigh, wrapped in grief? The Talmudic legend pictures her as Piety bemoaning the loss of her votary. See her hover round this coffin! Goodness and Charity echo her laments. Dear friends! Often am I seized with compunction; perhaps a wish. to soothe the distress of the living elicits an exaggerated praise of the dead. The eyes of sympathy mistake tinsel for genuine gold. But all was sterling in the character of the Jewess over whose remains I bend in sorrow. The quivering lips, the moistened eyes, at the sole mention of her departure hence, are the testimonies which a congregation in Israel bear to a life of complete virtue.

I knew Louisa B. Hart first when she bestowed the sweetest ministration of love upon her mother. That devotion, partaking of the angelic, revealed to me the depth of her soul. But when, at her generous board, I learnt that a sparkling intellect adorned the pure spirit, admiration blended with esteem for the possessor of such human excellencies. Fluent and choice in speech, she would enchain the attention of the listener, and convey instruction in delightful and easy converse. Her home, ever hospitable-aye, hospitable in the widest sense of the word— manifested a studied desire on the part of the hostess to draw thereunto the best in the community,-rising talents, that they might improve by contact with the riper judgment of age; the learned, more advanced in years, that they might experience a keener enjoyment of life by social intercourse with sprightly youth. But one thought ruled the actions of our noble-minded co-religionist —to set Judaism in the foreground, and direct to it the respectful looks of all with whom she associated. She believed with a firm faith that the grandest monument of wisdom is the religion of Moses and the Sages, and to illustrate her convictions she called to her aid the powers with which Nature had bountifully endowed her. Liberal, friendly, beneficent toward those who held opinions jarring with her cherished sentiments, she still unobtrusively claimed supremacy for the olden creed. None could tax her with fanaticism, because she followed to the letter the written and the oral law. Her brethren, who content themselves with a mere tacit acknowledgment of the truths underlying the Sinaic legislation, must have seen that her unflinching adherence to the lessons imbibed from a righteous mother was not a senseless habit, a petrified form, but that it meant devoted fidelity to principles. Who will copy so bright an exemplar? On whom among the women of my people shall fall the lovely mantle of my departed friend? We stand sadly in want of successors to her piety, if so zealous a laborer in the field of education and charity can, with any facility, be secured. The " Sunday-School"-an object of her fondest solicitude in days past, whether as a teacher or as a Superintendent, and holding always a high place in her affections; the "Female Beneficial Society"-which

brought out in bold relief the qualities of the mind and of the heart she so eminently possessed; the "Foster Home"-in whose progress her feelings were enlisted, and to whose inmates she had often proved a counsellor and a personal friend; the "United Hebrew Charities" —with the directors of which she co-operated, that the needy might lack neither bread to eat, nor raiment to put on; the host of hapless ereatures whom she mercifully raised from abjection-may search and succeed at length to fill the loss sustained. But the Synagogue; the Synagogue, representing a real, not a fictitious, worship; the Synagogue, representing a living, heartfelt communion with God, and not an artificial, constrained service, sits low and bewails her own bereavement. For who will supply the place of her devoted daughter in this century, when she dares not put forth a single claim to reverence? In a century, when her brow, furrowed with age, excites but the derisive smile of multitudes? Aye, she weeps at thy departure, O sainted Jewess! For thou wast her honor. Of thy tried faithfulness she could boast. Charity did become in thy hand the light with which thou kindledst the flame of joy midst the gloom of solitude. Knowledge was the lever wherewith thou didst strive to uplift the humble, and win sublimity for those already high-stationed. By their agency thou didst govern thy home with kindness and discretion, and didst deal with thy fellow-creatures most uprightly and beneficently. But Piety was thy crowning virtue; it singled thee out among the distinguished few whose existence it still adorns. Piety gained for thee an undisputed eminence in the world of probation. Oh! let its sweet memory abide therein eternally. Let it be as frontlets between our eyes, recalling duties unfulfilled. It may reclaim the audacious sinner; beckon back from perdition the heedless and unwary. Let not the path round which thou hast strewn choice flowers become an arid wilderness, Raise for us, by prayer at the footstool of Grace, kindred spirits that may tend it with care. Imparadised soul of my devoted friend! Pray that the divine virtue, in the reward of which thou art beatified, be reproduced in the character of loved relatives, who grieve over thy severance from the mortal coil. Thou wilt then be an endless blessing. We shall rejoice on earth, and thou wilt ascend to higher glories in the Heaven of Heavens. AMEN.

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